Gender and democracy: No shortcuts to power

When the processes by which people are represented become sick, says Curzon Price, then we should not be surprised; representation pops up where it can.

Is the book dead? Well, yes and no: Booking the future | open Democracy News Analysis

Letter from Lipetsk, Oksana ZagrebnyevaOn the whole I often think that we live in defiance.  In defiance of the crisis, the falling salaries and growing prices, in defiance of the fact that we can't plan our budget.  And in defiance of everything I got married during the crisis - no pomp

Russian industrial town meets economic crisis with defiance

Sul sito dell'organizzazione britannica per la difesa dei dirittiumani e della democrazia nuovi interrogativi per il premier Dall'inglese Open Democracyaltre 10 domande a Berlusconi

I elaborated on last week's rejoinder to David Carr on what to do about the yellowing newspaper business in a talk to a University of Westminster (London) conference. If you're interested, you can read a slightly cleaned up text on openDemocracy.

Democracy is a way of life. It’s not just about documents or governments; it’s about the things we do every day that contribute to society and make it a better place to live. By the People will examine the day-to-day actions that create a democratic way of life. In true democratic fashion, we invite you to join the discussion and share your own experiences as a citizen. Read More   Subscribe to RSS 2009 Indian Elections: The Blogosphere Reacts

'Love Match' of pro-democracy and cit-j site to reinvigorate reporting

New partnership between cit-J agency and pro-democracy site

From that trajectory the British blog Open Democracy took a radical step when they began 50:50 - a series of journalistic projects that bring in the voices of women with an explicit commitment to becoming a "current affairs forum which is written, read and used equally by women and men". Committing to a 50:50 editorial policy presents us with a similar opportunity to (and all the attending problems of) quotas and all-women short lists as a way to instantly change the status quo. Rather than drip feed women into a male dominated space which may oblige them to fit into the prevailing culture - as so many women politicians appear to do - present both men and women with the challenge of working together in a radically altered space that neither recognise.

Via open Democracy James Warner: The death of JG Ballard considered as an atrocity exhibitionLink: http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/the-death-of-jg-ballard-considered-an-atrocity-exhibition

Le Dr Haidar Eid est maître de conférence au département Littérature anglaise de l’université Al-Aqsa, Bande de Gaza, Palestine. Le Dr Eid est membre fondateur du Groupe pour un seul Etat démocratique (ODSG) et membre de la Campagne palestinienne pour le boycott universitaire et culturel d’Israël (PACBI). Il a rédigé cet article pour Palestine Chonicle.com, article qui a été publié sur OpenDemocracy.net.

Yemen: the weakest link, by Ginny Hill, openDemocracy

About ten days ago, India kicked off what Kanishk Tharoor at openIndia calls "the world's biggest exercise in democracy". Reuters has the colourful detail:

What has gone wrong for the left? In a recent column on the Open Democracy website, Tibor Dessewffy, a Hungarian commentator, argues that “fears of terrorism, and subsequent anxieties caused by immigration and the sustainability issues of welfare and social systems, [have] brought the progressive left under increasing pressure”.

New: openDemocracy on the Thai crisis

Blog posts on the day as a whole were written by Entangled Alliances, Tony's Blog (part 1 and part 2), Richard's Kingdom, Cafe Babel London and Tony Curzon Price.

“* a huge demonstration and riot in Guzhou province, southwest China. As many as 30,000 people mobilised in response to claims that police had covered up the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl; cars and government buildings were set on fire (see Li Datong, “The Weng’an model: China’s fix-it governance”, 30 July 2008).